Editorial: Brownley for another term

Incumbent served voters well

The 41st Assembly District stretches from Santa Monica and Malibu into the San Fernando Valley. It includes Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Port Hueneme, and the southern and coastal portions of Oxnard. It is an area that needs a representative well-versed in the diverse needs of the district.

Incumbent Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Woodland Hills, is seeking re-election against Republican challenger Mark Bernsley of Woodland Hills, an attorney and inventor. He is a smart, nonideological problem solver and California needs more candidates like him. However, The Star Editorial Board admires the work of Ms. Brownley in her first term and recommends her for a second.

Ms. Brownley is particularly proud of two bills she authored. One, inspired by the slaying of 15-year-old E.O. Green School student Larry King in February, requires foster parents be trained in anti-discrimination laws and reporting harassment. The other requires authorities to screen victims of domestic violence, child abuse or prostitution to determine if they might also be victims of human trafficking.

Ms. Brownley has worked to protect the environment by taking a leadership role in opposing the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal off the Oxnard-Malibu coast and supporting a bill, on hold, that requires the Santa Susana Field Laboratory be cleaned to the highest standards before being converted to another use.

Ms. Brownley supported Sen. Sheila Kuehl's single-payer healthcare bill, signing on as a co-author when she first arrived in the Assembly. Though it and a similar bill have been vetoed, Ms. Brownley said she believes Sen. Kuehl's single-payer plan remains the best solution to healthcare in California, but there are others she would consider.

The assemblywoman said there should be a modification of the Legislature's required supermajority to pass the budget. She told The Star Editorial Board that Republicans were willing to consider the idea of passing the budget with a simple majority but retain the two-thirds vote for increasing taxes, an idea she should press in the Assembly.

Ms. Brownley's top priority has been education. The former Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board member served as chairwoman of the Senate Budget Subcommittee for Education Finance and introduced legislation that would help reform the education finance system.

The idea, she said, is to make it easy for people to see where and how education revenue is spent. The Senate Appropriations Committee rejected the bill. If returned to the Assembly, Ms. Brownley said she will reintroduce it.